28 - Hampshire Thunderbolt - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 28

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	Southern
Issuing Authority	Belgae	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.42g	Diameter	11mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	53 BC to 50 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. Some pellets appear to the right. The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted. A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".
Reverse Description	An elongated S shaped line (the thunderbolt) runs vertically, bisecting a straight horizontal line. The upper right quadrant is effectively empty on this coin, with just the very edge of a butterfly shaped object visible. The lower left quadrant contains an L shaped object with fluted edges, with a pellet behind. This pellet does not appear on most dies . The remaning quadrants contain torcs and pellets. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown.

Bt. From finder on Ebay 2018. Item number 123106676312

Found in South Hampshire (April 2018) on the same land as 42 and 43

ABC	ABC 767. Hampshire Thunderbolt
Divided Kingdoms	DK 304 – 306. British B2 – Thunderbolt
Van Arsdell	VA 203-01. Atrebatic A – Geometric Type
Spink	S 46. Geometric Type

The Hampshire Thunderbolt quarter staters were minted by the Belgae (or more likely an unknown tribe no longer in the historical record) around 53-50 BC. They are a continuation of the boat and geometric theme started by the Morini tribe with their GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarter staters. This coin is obverse die 1, reverse die 7. Only three coins with this reverse are listed in “Divided Kingdoms”.

This is one of twelve in the collection (see 2, 14, 32, 37, 40, 43, 50, 117, 120, 122, and 123).